Marian Kotleba, a well-known figure of the Slovak neo-Nazi scene, was recently elected as governor of the central Slovak region of Banská Bystrica. Is this the mere consequence of a protest vote, or the indicator of a much more disturbing trend?

After months of campaigning, leading to an election, followed by weeks of negotiation, the German Social Democrats and Merkel's CDU/CSU have finally agreed to form a grand coalition. But can this coalition hold? And how will it affect Europe?

For the EU, the Czech Republic has long been Britain's partner in trouble. But the victory of a more Europe-friendly left in the recent elections might signal a radical new turn for Czech foreign policy.

Angela Merkel might have won the last German elections, but
she now needs a new coalition partner. So who will it be? Coalitions can be formed willingly by intentional partners, or they can emerge out of necessity, forced by the reality of the vote.

As predicted, Sunday’s German federal
election resulted in a resounding victory for Angela Merkel. But with growing German euroscepticism and hesitation about the
country's future role in the Union, the results for Europe are not yet in.

Strengthened by a clear victory in the ballots, Angela Merkel is unlikely to change her austerity course. In the absence of a strong domestic opposition, it is up to the citizens of Europe to challenge her policies.

On 22 September, Germans will go to the polls and decide over the future course of their country and, perhaps, Europe as a whole. BBC presenter Jon Sopel sat down with The European to discuss the election, Angela Merkel’s governing style and rising German Euroskepticism.

After the seemingly unending crisis that followed this February's elections, Italian politics seem to have finally found some stability. And yet, recent events may be the sign of greater trouble to come.

Those of us who were actively working for a
sustainable and democratic society in Iceland have always wondered when the
window of opportunity opened by the 'pots and pans revolution' would close. Did
the last elections bring an end to Iceland's radically democratic moment?

A wave of enthusiasm took Icelanders through the 2012 referendum after the 2008 crash, once the widely-praised 'crowd-sourced' constitution appeared to be within reach. But Icelanders’ hopes seem to be evaporating in the haze of this week-end's parliamentary elections.

The election of the new President of the Republic ended
up in a mess for the Democratic Party, devastating both its cohesion
and political capital. Is this the end of the road for an united Italian left?

It is a strange country that risks killing off Europe having been one of its founding and most reliable members. To move away from the sterile politics of the past twenty years, Italy has to come up with something new - but what?

The Italian
election resulted in a deadlock with no clear winner. But while Italy is stuck
between politics as usual and a sterile protest vote, the seeds of a ‘liberal
revolution’ have discretely been sown. Could this mark the
beginning of an Italian spring?

There is no telling what the outcome of today's remarkably uncertain Italian elections will be. But the real story might just be Beppe Grillo's Movimento 5 Stelle, which could become the third political force in the country, and set a model for others in Europe to follow.

Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement has often been
called a shake-up for Italian politics. But what if 'M5S' really obeyed an
established paradigm that is far from the revolutionary ideas it claims to
convey?

In November 2011, Mario Monti, an academic and former European Commissioner, was seen as the
providential man to save Italy from its troubles. Now, only one year and a
few months later, he is trailing behind in the polls and set to lose the upcoming
elections. What happened?

Silvio Berlusconi has survived ejection and scandal to return to the centre of Italian politics. But it is his opponents more than the man himself who carry the blame for his continuing influence, says Geoff Andrews.

This
Saturday's election saw the victory of former PM Milos Zeman over current
Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. The duel between a decried populist and an
old-school aristocrat revealed a division previously unseen in modern Czech
society.

On Saturday, the Czechs elected Miloš Zeman, an important figure of the democratic transition of the 1990s, to be their new president. Although this role is mostly a symbolic one, expectations were high for a change in public policy. Are Czech voters bound to be disappointed?